More than 92% of money in corruption cases has been irrecoverable, according to a Government Inspectorate report on the 10-year implementation of the Anti-Corruption Law.

The report said total losses caused by corruption in Vietnam have amounted to VND59.75 trillion (US$2.6 billion) and over 400 hectares of land over the past 10 years. However, just VND4.67 trillion (7.8%) and over 219 hectares of land (54.7%) have been recovered.

The Government Inspectorate attributed the situation to difficulties in investigations into corruption cases as much time has been needed to collect evidence and find violators.

Many corruption cases occurred a long time ago but have just been detected recently. Therefore, violators had time to hide, transfer and legalize assets gained from corrupt practices.

According to the report, law enforcement agencies have not adopted drastic measures to handle illegally acquired assets. In some cases, defendants transferred their assets to foreign countries, making it tough to take them back.

Graft cases have not been handled effectively and few of them have been detected via investigations and auditing.

Law enforcement agencies have remained reluctant to fight corruption given the lack of authority to inspect certain corruption cases.

The Government Inspectorate proposed adjustments to the Anti-Corruption Law to create a better legal framework to handle corruption cases in a timely and efficient fashion.

SGT